Improvement in machines for breaking and cleaning flax



G. SAQNPORD & J. E. MALLORY. MACHINE BREAKING AND CLEANING FLA X. &C

; Patented Aug. 25; 1863.

Wdmmr:

. with' our present a UNITED STATES GELSTON SANFORD AND J AS. E.

PATENT QFFICE.

MALLORY, or nnvv' roux, N.'Y.

Specification forming l-tor Letters Patent 39,6so, dated August 25,1863,

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown. that we, GELSTON SANFORD, a

' subject of" the Queen .of Great Britain, now

temporarily residing in the city of New York, 1

and JAMESE. MAL oRY,'of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented cer ,'tain-.new and usefullmprovenients' in'Machine'ry for', Breaking and Cleaning; Flax,

Hemp, and other likeFibe'r-Yielding Plants; and .we do. hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof,

-referenc'e' being bad to the accompanying.

drawings, making Part of, this specification,

- Figure 1 is a side-lelevation ;Fig. '2, alongi-.

tudinalvertical seetion and Fig, 3, an "eleva v I tionof 'the rear end.

ionthe" machine for this purpose secured tons by Letters Patent bearing date the 16th day .of September, 18 62.. In the said lnachine secured.- to usjby the. said; {Letters Patent-the fluted rollers, whether one or more pairs,

have a-recipro'catingjrotary motion, therange',

of which is greater-tron; the-'feeding-in' table than toward,it soiasto a t on the'stalks. and fibers: alternately in opposite: directions and cause'thenygraduallyto V maehine."'= Subsequently. to the grant of "the said'I lettrs,Rateiitntherlletters Patentfweregranted to' us',-bearing date, the 28th day of April',-, 18 63,-for'an improved mechanism for imparting the required" reciprocating rotary motion to the-'fsaidi-rollers' -'1n agmore perfeet and g improvements, and have represented the same in theaecompany'ing drawings, although the required motions'may .jb'eimparted by other means? p A r E In the accompanyingdrawings, ,a represents the frame, andb b. a pair of fluted, and c o a pairof toothed,.rollers, the pair b I) being placed next to the feeding-in table 11, where the flax or other fibrous substancefls properly spread to be presented to their bite, and the other pair, 0 e, is placed a short distance back of them. {The journals of the twolowerrollers', b and c, are mounted in suitable boxes in the frame, f and the journals of the upper rollers, b and. c, are mounted in boxes fitted in hinged travel through the efiicientmanner, which improved: meehanismlwerprefen to use 1n connection each end to answer asv cogs, ,rollermay berotated by the lower one.

arms e e e e, borne "down by springs f f f f, to

cause the saidupper rollers to make pressure on the flax .or other" substance which may be passing between them; and the lower rollers. The driving-shaft g carries a crank pin,- h,

which is connected by ajoint-link, '11, with the 'lower end of a pair of arms, j j, which are thus vibrated back and forth by the revolution of' the crank. On the axis of vibration of the said vibrating or swinging arms j j there is mounted a cog-wheel, k, which is free to'turn independently of the said arms. The

crank pin h carries a cogged pinion, l, and

- the cogs of this pinion engage the cogs of a wheel, m, mountedso asto turn: on a stud- -p'rojectingfrom the inner face of the joint-. I 1 I l fllink'fiand the said'cog-wheel mengages ian- Thesame'lttersindicatelike pa'rts in-each" of thefigures. y .0m sald invention relates to improvements other cog-wheehin, which is'free' to turn. on

" the-link-pin o,which' connects the joint-link 'i with the vibrating arms j j; andthe lastname d cog-wheel carriesa concentric-pinion, gagesthe cog-wheel 16, before described, the said cog-wheel kintnrn engaging a cog-wheel", g, on the shaftlofu each of the lower-rollers, 1) undo." e p By the connections above described the is which turns with it, and thispinion en- "quired motlous are imparted to the lower roll ;e rs without shock or violence. The. periphery ot'the' rollers c a should travel a little faster than the periphery of the rollers b b,

so that both'pairs of rollers shall have a rub hing or combing action onthefibers,andin the direction of thelength of the -fibers, which action will tend-to' loosen and separate from the fibers the woody and other foreign sub stances.- We prefer to obtain this difference of motion by making the pair of rollers 0.0 of greater diameter than the rollers b b; but it will beobvious that the same result can be attained lay-equivalent means, such asu'naking the two cogged. wheels, g gain the shafts of the lower'roller's, I! and c,- of difl'e'rent diameters.

vThe rear pair'of rollers are grooved longitudi nally'and in the direction of the -circumfer- Qence, as represented, so that their surfaces, in .stead of flutes, presentrings of teeth. ThGSl circumferential grooves are made deeper thax the longitudinal ones,.and.we prefer not t1 extend them entirely-to the ends of the roll ers, thus leavingv the longitudinal flutesa that the uppe the frame to be'connected by a universal joint with one end of a joint-link, p, the other end of which is in turn connected with a short crank, r, 01 the upper end-of an inclined shaft,

s, which receives motion from the drivingshaft by. two beveled cog-wheels, tanda. The

throw of the crank 'r should be short to impart to the'upper roller, as it vibrates on its axis,a short longitudinal reciprocating motion.

By reason of forming the-surface of the roll- 1 "ers with rings of projecting teeth and imparting to them the two sets of motions above doplant is broken by the teeth of each roller ';;,,iscribed,"the woody portion of the flax or other i i bending and forcing it into the'spaces between the teeth of the other, a' slight rubbing action in the direction of the length of the fibers being produced by alternately reversing the rotary motion, while'at thesame time, by the sliding of one of the rollers on the other, an efficient rubbing action is produced across the 'fibers, which, more efficiently than any other known means, loosens and separates the par- ;.ticles of woody and, other foreign substances from thefibers; and by making the circumferential grooves deeper than the longitudinal ones, the fibers, as they are separated from the foreign substances, will enter and lie in the bottom'thereof, to be out of the way while the teeth continue to act on the fibers which have not yet been thoroughly cleaned, and by making the periphery of the second pair of rollers travel faster than the periphery of the first pair, as before stated, a species of combing action takes place not only to rub and loosen,

I but also to comb the fragments out of the mass of fibers; and although we prefer to use two pairs of rqllers,, the firstpair fluted-s-that is,.

groovedlongitudinallyeand the second pair formed with the teeth by the crossrgrooves,

and the circumferential grooves deeper than the longitudinal grooves, and to cause the periphery of the second pair of rollers to travel faster than the first pair, yet we do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the use-of all these improvements in connection, as the use of any one of them will mate; rially improve the operation of a machine; and although we prefer to give the longitudinal reciprocating motion to the upper roller, c, it will be obvious that the same result I would be produced by giving such motion to the lower instead of the upper roller, or by causing both to vibrate longitudinally but in opposite. directions; andv although the best results will be obtained from this longitudinal vibration of the rollers when their peripheries are formed with teeth instead (if flutes, nevertheless a good'result eanbe obtained from such vibratory motion when the rollers are only fluted. I

' What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Making the peripheries of the second pair of rollers travel faster than the first pair when-both pairs of rollers have-a reciprocating rotary motion on their axes, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. Imparting to one' or both of the rollers of apair a longitudinal reciprocating motion, substantially as described, in combination with a reciprocating rotary motion, substan- 1 tially such as described. and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combinationof a pair of toothed rollers having a reciprocating rotary motion, and a longitudinal reciprocating motion, substantially'as'described, with a pair of fluted rollers having a reciprocating rotary motion, substantially as described.

4.;Making the circumferential grooves of the pair of toothed rollers of greater depth than the longitudinal grooves, substantially as and for the purpose specified. I

GELSTON SANFORD" J AS. E. MALLOR \Vitnesses;

. THOMAS D. Srnrson,

'WM. H. Brsnor, 

